GENEVA, ILLINOIS (August 3, 2019) — Blaze Alexander has been a thorn in the side of the Quad Cities River Bandits all season long. The Kane County Cougars shortstop tormented the Bandits once again on Saturday night at Northwestern Medicine Field. He finished with four hits in the game, the final of which drove in the winning-run in the bottom of the tenth inning as the Cougars rallied for a 2-1 victory.

The River Bandits (23-18, 66-41) failed to score in the top of the extra frame, leaving the go-ahead run on third base. That set the stage for Alexander to provide the heroics. The bottom of the inning began with Zack Shannon on second base and Buddy Kennedy at the plate. Reliever Danny Cody was able to induce Kennedy into a shallow-fly out in center for the first out. Alexander stepped in the box and lined a single down the right-field line for the game-winning hit. With his 4-5 day at the plate, Alexander is not batting .500 against River Bandits pitching in 24 at-bats.

Quad Cities took an early lead with a run in the second inning. Freudis Nova led off with a base-hit into left and stole second base to move into scoring-position. Alex Holderbach drove him in with a run-scoring single to center and the Bandits had a 1-0 advantage.

Kane County (28-13, 63-47) tied the score in the bottom of the seventh. Jonathan Bermudez was in his fourth inning of work when he surrendered a lead-off single to KeShawn Lynch. Eddie Hernandez followed by working a walk, putting two on with no outs. Brandon Leyton failed on a sacrifice-bunt attempt as the Bandits forced the lead-runner out at third for the first out of the frame. After a fly-ball into foul territory advanced Lynch to third base, Dominic Fletcher poked a two-out single to shallow-left to even the score.

Starting-pitcher Jose Rivera went 4.0 scoreless innings for the Bandits, recording four strikeouts and scattering three hits. Bermudez also turned in 4.0 innings and allowed one run on four hits. Cody, the final pitcher, allowed just the unearned run in the tenth over 1.1 innings.

Michael Wielansky and Nova paced the River Bandits offensive attack with two hits each. Aside from Alexander, Fletcher and Lynch also finished with multiple hits for the Cougars.

Game two of the series is set for Sunday afternoon at 1PM. The Bandits will toss RHP Matt Ruppenthal (3-5, 5.10) against Kane County RHP Adrian Del Moral (2-2, 3.95).

Quad Cities (R-H-E): 1-6-1

Kane County (R-H-E): 2-10-0

Win: Hernandez (5-2)

Loss: Cody (0-1)

Save:

HRQuad Cities: None

HRKane County: None

All River Bandits games are broadcast on 1170 K-BOB and TuneIn Radio. Home games are also available with video on MiLB.TV.

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